Published in PoliticsPA, by Jill Harkins

August 14, 2014

Harris Poll released findings today that registered Pennsylvanians of both parties not only support increased energy development, but are more likely to vote for candidates who promote increased production of oil and gas. The poll was conducted on behalf of the American Petroleum Institute.

“People in the ‘Keystone State’ recognize the abundance of energy that lies in the Marcellus Shale and want to capitalize on the opportunity to benefit all Americans, by investing in the commonwealth’s ability to transport natural gas to consumers nationwide,” said Stephanie Catarino Wissman, executive director of API’s Associated Petroleum Industries of Pennsylvania.

Eighty-two percent of participants claimed that they “support increased development of the country’s energy infrastructure,” while 72 percent “support increased production of domestic oil and natural gas resources located here in the U.S.”

Seventy percent of respondents said that they “are more likely to support a candidate in November’s election who supports increasing the country’s energy infrastructure and producing more oil and natural gas from here in the U.S.,” and that they believe “that the federal government does not do enough to encourage the development of the country’s energy infrastructure.”

While slightly more Republicans responded favorably in a few of the questions, the difference is only worth noting in regard to support for candidates in November. Eighty-one percent of Republicans said that they were more likely to support a candidate who promotes energy production, while only 61 percent of Democrats responded the same way.

The questions are all worded in a positive manner, likely because the poll was paid for by API. As always, surveys done by organizations or interest groups with a stake in the findings should be more heavily scrutinized. Since we don’t have access to the wording of their questions or their raw data it is always possible that some of these types of polls could be skewed toward specific outcomes.

Regardless, Catarino Wissman is optimistic about the results. “Pennsylvania voters, regardless of party affiliation, want more American made energy,” she said.

Harris Poll interviewed 608 registered PA voters by telephone between July 29 and August 3 and has a margin of error of +/-4 percent.

(Jill Harkins, "Harris Poll Finds Overwhelming PA Support for Energy Production," PoliticsPA, 8/14/14)